Will Aston Martin’s Valkyrie Be the Fastest Street-Legal Car in the World?

By

Jim Motavalli

Dec. 28, 2018 12:24 p.m. ET

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The Valkyrie, a collaboration with Red Bull, is being called the ultimate Aston Martin.
Aston Martin photo

By

Jim Motavalli

Dec. 28, 2018 12:24 p.m. ET

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who determines who dies in battle and who lives, so it’s perhaps fitting that a race version of Aston Martin’s Valkyrie could be headed for blood-and-thunder competition in the fiercest forum on earth—the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Valkyrie will be perhaps the ultimate Aston Martin. It’s as close to an out-and-out Formula One car as the automaker can get, while keeping it street legal. Just 150 road-ready Valkyries will be built, and 25 competition versions. All of them have found homes already, so even if you have the reported US$2.3 million price of admission (for the road-going version), the opportunity has already passed.

The car is a collaboration (the code name was AM-RB 001) between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing, and it’s the latter that could conceivably take a version to the French track. Red Bull’s chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, led the design team.

The result, the partners say, will be a ruthlessly stripped down speedster, potentially the fastest street-legal car in the world, with 1,130 horsepower and a 250-miles-per-hour top speed. As Pininfarina readies its 1,900-horsepower Battista and Rimac its 1,914-horsepower C_Two (both electrics), that crown could move around frequently.

The view from the back is especially striking.
Aston Martin photo

As is often the case, extreme aerodynamics that work on the track also please the eye. The radical styling looks like something out of a science-fiction movie—in a good way. The doors lift up for access, something seen in show cars but seldom on their production counterparts. The view from the back is particularly other-worldly, like no car before it.

The Valkyrie, which will reach customers next year, is a hybrid. It features a naturally aspirated and mid-mounted V-12 engine that revs to 11,000 rpm, developed by supplier Cosworth; a hybrid battery system with energy recovery from Croatia’s Rimac; and a seven-speed paddle-shifted dual-clutch transmission from Ricardo. The electric power is sourced to aid rapid takeoff. Newey told Top Gear that the V-12 was “technically and emotionally” the better choice over a V-6 that was also tested.

To say the car is bare-bones is an understatement. The car reportedly won’t even have an audio system, though air conditioning is part of the package. Anything extraneous to driving has been sacrificed in order to save weight, and the body panels are all lightweight—and costly—carbon fiber. Aston Martin said, “There’s not one steel component in Valkyrie’s structure.”

Even more stripped for action is the Valkyrie AMR Pro track edition, which will follow the street version in 2020. It weighs just 1,000 kilograms (2,204 pounds) and Aston boasts that is “capable of generating more than its own weight in downforce” to keep it on the track at high speeds.

A lighter exhaust system will be fitted to the track version, as well as special molded race seats, carbon-fiber suspension components, and polycarbonate windshield and side windows replacing heavier glass. The body is wider, and benefits from much bigger front and rear wings.

Power is up, too. It should be formidable on the world’s tracks. The price isn’t available, but it could be in the US$2.5 million to US$3 million range.

Will Aston Martin’s Valkyrie Be the Fastest Street-Legal Car in the World?

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who determines who dies in battle and who lives, so it’s perhaps fitting that a race version of Aston Martin’s Valkyrie could be headed for blood-and-thunder competition in the fiercest forum on earth—the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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